An Education

Let's see. Today I woke up and ventured off to Target to get some blu-rays. If my calculations are correct, I'll hit 50 on Christmas day which is exciting. Anyways, after much begging and prodding I convinced my sister to drive me to Sundance Cinema so I could see An Education. I paid for her too, to make up for the crummy birthday present I gave her earlier this year. Dear Robert Redford, make your tickets cheaper.

An Education



5/5

This movie by far has the best ensemble cast that I've seen this year. (I haven't seen Nine yet but lately have been hearing mixed reviews about that which is depressing). The film stars newcomer Carey Mulligan as Jenny Miller, a girl who is in her last year of school and hopes to go to Oxford after she graduates. One day after she's done with rehearsal, an older man named David played by Peter Saarsgaard (Boys Don't Cry, Garden State) offers to give her a ride home. The two run into each other later and the two begin a relationship. Jenny becomes enthralled into the luxurious world that David offers her. Her parents, Jack and Marjorie, played by Alfred Molina (Spiderman 2, The Da Vinci Code) and Cara Seymour (Adaptation., The Savages) are very protective of their daughter but David is able to take Jenny away on weekends by convincing her them with his smooth talking.

David offers Jenny an extravagant lifestyle full of things such as classical music concerts, delightful dinners, and weekends in Paris. Jenny is put into a situation that gives her the opportunity between a promising education at Oxford or the lifestyle that David offers her. The situation gives her one where she must choose between an education (hey that's the name of the movie!) that she must work hard for and could lose everything she has with David or alternatively a life where life is simply given to her through David and then therefore loses any hope of an education (hey that's the name of the movie again!) at Oxford. It's very interesting how David's career is quite similar to that of Jenny choosing him, his career is the easy way out a genuine career just as her choosing him is the easy way out. I couldn't help but draw parallels to the BYU society I've come to learn over the past few years with this movie. Relationships over an education (hey I did it again!).

This movie's core though is the screenplay written by Nick Hornby. The acting itself is rather good but I didn't feel there were really any standouts. Carey Mulligan and Alfred Molina were probably my favorite though. Anyways, this is a great movie and I highly recommend it.